Shadow the Hedgehog: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
by awesome736
Summary: BASED OFF THE MOVIE DIRECTED BY TIM BURTON. Shadow the Hedgehog has just returned to London after exile in Austrailia for fifteen years. After learing the fate of his family, he and his accomplice, Mrs. Rouge Margery Lovett, team up to achieve the ultimate goal of revenge.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, guys. I'm sure none of you were expecting this :D**

**Anyway, happy 2013 to all of you! I'd like to thank you all for sticking by me and reading my god-awful stories all this time. This year has been a great one; I made the longest and most reviewed story in my history on FF. I also got many good ideas and I'm currently working on a ficticious novel. So, all in all, the year here on FF was wonderful, but I never could have made the accomplishments I made without you wonderful readers, reviewers, and all my wonderful friends and favorite writers who pushed me on and inspired me to strive doing what I love doing.**

**So, as a thank-you to all those wonderful people, a new story. I hope you all like Sweeney Todd. I must say, this is something I never, ever thought I'd write. Heck, I don't even like Sonamy that much! And one-sided Shadouge? Who needs that? Shadria? NOPE**

**But, the ideas flowing through my imaginative brain all acted like a chorus of angels singing to me, "Write the stoooooorrryyyyy, Awesome! Write the stooooooooooooooooooooorryyy , write the stooooooooooooooooooooooorry yyyyyyyyyyy, Awesome!" I knew I had to. Angels do not lie. Unless its the legend of Satan in modern times or something of the sort and they were on the bad-guy side and were really demons in disguise.**

***cough* Erm, nobody would blame you if you left after reading that comparison ^^' Anyway, a review would be most appreciated! I will accept all constructive criticism! **

**Thank you again, and God bless all of you!**

**Happy 2013!**

**-Awesome**

* * *

The day the killer arrived was foggy.

It was very, very early in the morning as well. The sun had barely peeked over the horizon that day. A thick fog hung in the air like smoke; the air was so thick with the stuff that you could barely see the grand city in the midst of it all. This city was known as London.

Even this early in the morning, London was abuzz. Not with nobles who slept in or shildren running about playing Hopscotch or Pick-Up-Sticks. The workers of London had risen and gone to their work. The pretty prostitutes rushed to the brothels of London, giggling and throwing jokes and bragging about who they served the other day. Bums and the poor people of the slums of London roused themselves and prepared for a day's begging. Sailors and other workers rushed to London's port to load cargo onto leaving ships and welcome entering ones. This is the killer's first stop in London before beginning.

Fast approaching London was a large, worn old ship. The sailors upon the ship let out joyful cries as they approached the city they had only heard of in stories. Only a few of those men were Englishmen, and one just so happened to be the killer.

Staring dreamily off into the city's depths, past the fog and past the excited yells of his crew, a boy of no more than seventeen stood beaming from ear-to-ear. His fur was a bright, merry silvery color, his eyes were amber like that of a cat. He was dressed in a somewhat-dirty sailor's getup; a wooly shirt, long black pants, and a sleek jacket. This young boy was named Silver the Hedgehog, and Englishman and a dreamer.

Behind him stood one of an entirely different nature. Dark black fur, an eternal glare slapped upon his mug, blood-colored eyes. This man had red streaks across his fur, a sleek jacket that kept his body warm, and an impressive row of fangs that gleamed when he exposed them. He had a wooly sweater underneath his jacket, and his eyes were dark underneath as if he hadn't slept in ages.

"Oh, look at it, Mr. Todd!" Silver excalimed, spreading his arms out and letting the wind buffet him. "Just look at it all! We're finally here! Isn't it beautiful?

The man behind Silver scoffed, then replied, "If you think that vile place is beautiful, sure then."

"Oh," Silver rolled his eyes, grinning at his companion and slapping his back, "you're so negative, Mr. Todd. Any soul in the world would find London a rare treat to visit! I mean, I've traveled to some pretty impressive places and none of them could ever match up to London!"

"As have I," Mr. Todd growled. "And no amount of cruelty that a man can express can match up to the vile, impure cruelness of London."

Mr. Todd stepped up to Silver's side. Silver stared at him with a look that read, _You're serious? You can't be serious!_

"But," Silver spoke, "London is your hometown, is it not? Why would you hate it so?"

"Hush now, Silver. There are some on this ship who'd love to hear some good gossip about the man you picked up from the ocean." Shadow turned one of his most hateful glares to the part of the crew who was not below deck. This scared the living daylights out of the few who picked it up.

"They're trustful, Mr. Todd," Silver replied, resting a hand on his companion's shoulder. "They shan't tell a soul. Now, what's on your mind-"

"Land HO!" The sudden cry from one of the crew members nearby the two hedgehogs started up a jubilee on the ship. Sonic eagerly joined in, but Mr. Todd skulked off below deck.

* * *

Silver rubbed his sore arms, but gave his traditional thumbs-up to his crew for a job well-done. The cargo from their ship had just been fully unloaded, and the entire crew was able to roam the city as much as they wanted. However, if you were a no-show when it was time to leave, you were left behind with a heavy heart. Silver was always sticking to this rule, being quite quick about things and not getting into anything too serious.

Silver shook the thoughts from his mind and glanced around.

Where is he...? Ah, there he is! Mr. Todd was leaning against a wall, his face dimly lit by the streetlamps nestled on the walls of the street. His eyes were flickering to one corner of the road and to the next. He seemed... Wary. Afraid, even.

Silver strolled over to him, and gave his friend a pat on the shoulder, which made the black hedgehog jump in fright.

"Ha," Silver chuckled, "sorry about that, Mr. Todd. You seem a little on edge. What's up?"

Mr. Todd heaved a sigh. "I beg your indulgence, Silver," he whispered. "But these once-familiar streets are filled with... ghosts. Shadows."

There was a beat of silence before Mr. Todd began to tell a story.

"There was a barber and his wife. That wife was beautiful... She was the most beautiful woman to ever live, at least in the eyes of the barber. He was sincerely in love with her."

"And he?" Silver asked.

"The barber?" Mr. Todd's expression darkened. "The barber was a fool for believing that life was a fairy tale meant for everything to go swimmingly. But his wife..." his face softened once more. "The two had a daughter together. Oh, that daughter was as pretty as her mother. The barber thought everything would be this perfect forever... At least until his daughter became a teenager."

The two companions chuckled for a moment. "Everything was wonderful," Mr. Todd continued. His face suddenly darkened once more. "There was another man who saw that the barber's wife was beautiful."

As Mr. Todd went on he literally began to spit out the words and he grew into a silent rage. "That _f__ool_... He was a pious... Vulture! He was a vulture of the law, I say! And with a gesture of his talons he had the barber ripped away from his family so that he may have the precious wife for himself. And she would fall, for she was so soft... so young... so lost and oh my God, so beautiful!"

By now the orator was panting.

"And," Silver asked gently, "and the lady, sir? Did... Did she succumb?"

"Oh," Mr. Todd breathed, "that was many years before now... I doubt anyone would know if she did or not... I'd... Like to thank you, Silver. If you had not spotted me, I'd probably been lost upon the waves of the ocean still."

"Will I see you again, sir?"

"Perhaps. You might find me if you search hard enough. On Fleet Street, perhaps."

"Until then, my friend!" Silver extended a hand and a warm smile. Mr. Todd simply glanced at him, then stormed away into the morning.

Then, while passing through the rat-infested tunnels of London, the troubled man began to chant a song he heard from someone he could not recall.

_T__here's a hole in the world, like a great black pit_

_And the vermin of the world inhabit it_

_And its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit_

As he stormed down the alleyways, passed by the flirtatious prostitutes and ignored the beggars, he muttered under his breath, "and it goes by the name of London!"

* * *

Mrs. Rouge Margery Lovett's knife sliced through a thick cylinder of meat and hit the cutting board below it with a loud _WHAM! _Rouge heaved a long sigh and continued slicing the remainder of the meat.

_Gotta make pies for the customers... Oh wait, there hasn't been a customer for **weeks**, _the pie-maker thought.

Rouge was a piano-key colored female bat whose wings were a dark shade of purple and jutted out from her back and lightly curved towards her front. Long black finger-less lace gloves traveled up her arm and ended abruptly at her elbow. She had a very slender body and pretty face; aqua eyes, pale complexion. She had smooth, sleek hair that fell down her back and curved over her right eye. Large, sensitive ears picked up any sound within her shop. Her gloves hid long burns from the years at the oven, and her face at the time was dotted with flour and grease.

The woman was a pie-maker, although she was so pretty and cunning that she could easily work her way to the top of one of the local brothels of Fleet Street. She probably would, too, if she weren't so stubborn and determined for her little shop.

The pie emporium that Rouge owned was not successful. Not in the least. Ever since her husband, Alfred Lovett the bat, died, Rouge's pies had gone far below the healthy and tasty meter, and customers were soon chased off by the most awful pies to ever exist.

Despite her dying business, Rouge was sure to keep up with the latest fashion. She also made a living for herself by creating a pawn shop for late at night, when her pie shop was closed. There, drunk men would pawn their wedding rings, necklaces, anything with so much as a sparkle on it. Rouge would reluctantly sell the jewelry and that's what usually paid her bills. Unknown to her customers, Rouge kept a secret stash of the gems she had acquired in a locked drawer in her bedroom.

However, business for even her pawning shop was slowly dying.

She kept up with the latest fashions as well, but preferred the darker dresses than the light, frilly ones she had seen haughty nobles wear. But most of the dresses she owned were burned from work at her oven, and she couldn't spare any money to buy another one. Oh well, she liked the outfits she wore anyway.

Rouge took a quick glance around her empty emporium. Catching a six-legged little creature dashing across the counter while she was distracted, Rouge snarled, baring an impressive row of fangs, and used the knife in her hand to stab the creature, stick it onto the blade, and drop it into the garbage. She took handkerchief, wiped the bug guts from her knife, and resumed chopping her meat.

She was so preoccupied with herself that even her sensitive ears did not pick up the bell on her door ring for the first time in ages, and an ebony hedgehog tenderly stepped inside.

Rouge suddenly sensed the presence of another being, and looked up to find him there. She let out a loud, surprised gasp, revealing a smooth voice full of cunning and loveliness.

"A customer!" Rouge breathed, grinning and stabbing her knife into the counter top where she worked. The customer was tall, handsome, very mysterious. He seemed a little familiar to her, but Rouge immediately brushed that off and pulled him into the store.

"Wait! There's no rush, no hurry! You gave me such a scare, love," Rouge cooed, blinking and shoving her surprised customer's bottom into the nearest chair. "Sit down, now! I thought you was a ghost for a second there, boy I haven't seen a customer for weeks now!"

"Uh, ma'am, I-" the hedgehog's voice was cut off by Rouge's as she pulled the knife from her counter and laid it on the table behind her.

"Did you come in for a pie, sir?" Rouge asked, obviously revved up. "I'm a bit rusty, so I do beg indulgence!"

"Madam, I-"

Rouge snatched up another cockroach with her fingers. "What is that?!" She growled to herself, tossing the bug on the floor and giving it the killing blow with her foot. "Anyway, sir, you'd think that I served the plague instead'a pies here! Everyone avoids it- no you don't-" Rouge gave an escaping roach the slap-down of a God. "-Oh, heaven knows I try, sir! But there's barely a soul coming here even to breath! Not a lick of a sale in weeks! Er, want some Ale or Gin or something, love?"

"Miss, I must-"

"But thinkin' about it, I can hardly blame those people who avoid this place. Know why?" the batgirl set a fresh mug of beer onto the counter, and began pouring the revolting, liquidy mess that dared to call itself meat into one of her pies, then yanking out a dusty plate and a moldy pie and shoving the food in front of the customer. "I'll tell you why. These are probably the worst pies to ever exist in London itself! I should know myself! I'm saying, take a bite!"

The poor customer reluctantly took a small bite of the dish his hostess gave him. Instantly, he began to look a little green.

"Ain't that just revolting? I'd drink this if I were you, lovey," Rouge muttered, handing the ale to the ebony hedgehog. "This would never have happened if those god-forsaken stores would lower the price of meat! I've had to grind up roadkill and other dead animals on the street! And even that stupid Mrs. Mooney is doin' better than me! She owns a pie shop not far from here, business is good and all, but the rat uses cats in her pies. All her neighbors' cats hasve all disappeared during the night. That's what I call enterprise, Mrs. Mooney, bravo! Ain't that just sick? I'd never do that to a poor li'l kitten! Also, I wouldn't be able to catch them anyway." Mrs. Lovett heaved a loud sigh. "Oh, sir... Times is hard, they are. Probably harder than these stupid pies-" The piemaker stopped to grab her rolling pin and lash out at a cockroach.

The customer was looking a little better, but he still seemed sick to his stomach. "M-Ma'am, I've come for information about-"

"There'll be time for that, love," Rouge interrupted. "LEt's go back and find something to get that taste out of your mouth, eh?" She flashed him a lovely smile, pulled him up, and led him to the back of the pie shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Rouge dusted the flour and filth from her dress as she and the stranger walked to the room towards the back of the pie shop. Rouge had let go of her customer's arm and was letting him walk freely behind her as she lead him through the halls towards the place she called home. She was not really aware that the ebony hedgehog stopped and looked up a long stairway in the hall. And why should she be aware? Nobody had been up there, not even she, the owner, for fifteen years, maybe more. The hedgehog man stared for a moment longer, then trailed after his hostess.

"Here, ain't this homey now?"

The bat had lead the hedgehog man to her living room. The dark customer looked about his surroundings, taking them in, slowly locking them into his mind. There was a stove where Mrs. Lovett was hunched over, pouring two glasses of Gin and checking on some tea. The walls were lined with a cheery pink-and-green striped wallpaper, with small dancing figures within their stripes. Trapped inside. Like he was.

The floor was crafted from a smooth, luxurious wood. Though it had worn and scratched over the years of work and rest. In the corner of the room stood a window with a long, translucent white curtain, and beside it a chair with a footrest in front of it. There was a stone fireplace that had some charred wood and coals inside, and upon the top of the hearth stood some candles and a couple books. A crucifix stood in the middle of the hearth.

There was a small table in the middle of the room surrounded by two chairs on either side. The hedgehog had to agree with his hostess, it _was_ pretty cozy.

"The cheery wallpaper was a bargain, too," the batgirl continued cheerfully, jerking the headgehog from his reverie. "'Twas only partly singed when the chapel burned down." She passed him a cup of gin, and beamed at him. "Here you go. Now why don't you sit down and rest ye weary bones?"

"You've a room over this shop, haven't you?" Rouge was surprised to hear the man speak for the first time. His voice was dark, menacing, and somewhat familiar... Maybe he was someone she knew.

"Yeah," Rouge responded, turning to him and leaning against her wall.

"Well, if times are so hard, why don't you rent it out?" The hedgehog inquired.

"Up there? Aw, no. No one won't go near it, y'see?" Suddenly it hit her who he was. Her eyes widened, and her grip tightened on the glass, but thankfully the hedgehog wasn't facing her. Rouge grit her teeth. _Steady now, that's it_, she thought. _I have to double-check first_.

"... Why, people think it's haunted," Mrs. Lovett went on, fighting to keep control of her voice.

This time, the hedgehog face her. "Haunted?" He asked, his eyes wandering, and for a split second his glare was gone.

"Yeah... And whose to say they're wrong?" Rouge walked over and sat beside her guest. "Y'see years ago, something happened up in that room. Something not very nice."

"And... what was that?"

"Well, I hope you like stories. See, I had rented that room up to a barber and his wife. Well, the barber first. Then he got married and soon came a li'l baby girl." Rouge's eyes clouded with anxiety. "And the barber was _beautiful_... Proper artist, he was. At least with a razor. Was wonderful at his job. He was a marvelous person, the happiest man I knew. But, y'see, they exiled him to... Australia, I think. Or was it Siberia? Oh, who knows. But, my God, we were all so devastated when he left... Shadow his name was. Shadow the Hedgehog. I had to attend to his wife and daughter when he left, and-"

"What was his crime?" The guest asked

"Pardon? Oh, his crime was just foolishness, love. Anywho, his wife was _very_ pretty, y'see. Silly little nit had her chance for the moon on a string with the barber in her life... Poor thing... Poor thing... Oh, pardon me. There was this judge who wanted her like _crazy_, y'see, and everyday he'd send her a flower. But the faithful old lass stayed faithful to the barber, and the judge, Judge Turpin his name was, was growing restless. So, she sobbed upstairs, and what she didn't know is that something much worse was about to occur."

The guest was glaring down at the floor, but Rouge could tell he was itching for her to go on.

"Well," she went on, "The Beadle calls on her, all polite, like. He says, 'Oh, madam, the judge is feeling so terrible! He blames himself for your plight!' And being a sweet li'l thing, she believed him. He took her to his house and, what do you know, there's a masquerade ball! Nobody she knows there, but she's shoved in, offered a drink, and immediately gets lost within the crowd, bless her heart. Poor soul! She goes about asking, 'Have you seen Judge Turpin? Oh, where is Judge Turpin?' she asks. Oh, he was there, only not so contrite!"

"What happened?!" The guest asked, his voice quivering.

"She wasn't no match for such craft, y'see, and everyone was drunk and thought it so droll. They figured her out to be daft and stupid, mister, so when the Judge saw her sitting down, close to tears, and leaped on her, all they did was laugh as he tore her dress up and-"

"NOOO!"

_CRACK! _The hedgehog's Gin glass went flying across the room and shattered to pieces on the wallpaper. The smaller glass shards floated to the ground, like falling snow. Rouge stared at the mess, then looked at the ebony hedgehog. His face was distorted with fury, his mouth curved into a snarl that displayed his sharp teeth.

Suddenly, his look disappeared, and he said, barely a whisper, "I'm sorry ma'am..."

"So," Rouge breathed, approaching him and feeling her heart skip. "So it really is you... Shadow the Hedgehog..."

Realizing his cover was blown, Shadow turned to his hostess. Grasping her arms in his hands, he pulled her towards him and demanded, "Where is Maria?! Where is my wife, Mrs. Lovett?!"

Rouge stared back at him, her eyes wide. "You've... You've come back..."

"My wife, Mrs. Lovett!" Shadow, suddenly realizing his behavior was improper, released her and turned to the window. "Where is she?"

"... She... She poisoned herself about a week later. With arsenic... I-I tried to stop her, I'm so sorry..."

Shadow was totally silent. His shoulders trembled, his lip quivered, but only a lone tear escaped his hateful eyes.

"And... And Johanna?" He breathed. "What of my daughter?"

"... Do you really want to know?"

"YES! TELL ME!" Shadow swiftly turned to her, when he noticed that his hostess was openly crying. Small rivers of tears streamed from her eyes, but she dared not let a sniffle nor a sob escape her vigilant eye. He approached her. "I'm sorry, are you alright-"

"He's got her."

"... He?"

"Judge Turpin. He adopted her, like his own. I couldn't do nothing for her..."

Shadow waited a couple of heartbeats before he removed his jacket and tossed it over the remnants of his mess of glass. "Fifteen years," he muttered. "Sweating in a living hell on a false charge. Fifteen years dreaming I might come home to a wife and child."

Rouge wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "Well, I can't say the years have been very kind to you, Mister Hedgehog."

"No!" Shadow stared at her with the corners of his mouth turned into an angry smile. "Not Hedgehog. It's Todd now. Sweeney Todd. And he will have his revenge."

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry this was short, but I'm glad this chapter is over :D**


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